Bet on it being a good night for Europe’s heavyweights

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Germany and Italy are both available at odds greater than evens to beat Argentina and Cameroon tonight – meaning that a £10 double on the second and third most successful nations in World Cup history with Betfair tonight will return £37.10.

If you’re a bit of a daredevil and think that bet is a little too straight-forward then why not throw an away team into the mix?

Croatia had a poor World Cup qualifying campaign but still managed to pick up twice as many points as Belgium, so odds greater than 6/4 on Slaven Bilic

Posted: March 3rd, 2010 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Will this be the year when England finally deliver?

We’re not convinced. Farewell 44 years of hurt, roll on 48!

This could well prove England’s best chance to win the World Cup in 20 years (we’re too scarred to wonder “what if” about the collapse against Brazil in 2002) but it still looks like they will come up short.

There’s no doubt that the Three Lions have the might coach in Fabio Capello, and for a second it looked like the team wasn’t too shabby either, but events so far this season haven’t been great preparation.

In goal, first-choice David James has been permanently crocked, second-choice Robert Green has endured a blip - his first since joining West Ham in 2006 - and third-choice Ben Foster has been awful.

Birmingham loanee Joe Hart has been the star performer but has just one cap, and if he took the number one jersey would be heading for the World

Posted: January 7th, 2010 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Five stats about tonight’s Euro Under-21 Championship Final

Germany/England, 7.45pm, Sky Sports 1, Best Odds, Free Bets

Stuart Pearce is the 4/1 favourite to succeed Fabio Capello as England manager and tonight he can prove his credentials by guiding the Young Lions to their first trophy since 1984. To do so he will have to conquer Germany, who were a thorn in Psycho’s side throughout his playing career. However, at Under-21 level, England have a much better record against them:

1. There have been three occasions under the current format where two teams from the same group have met in the final and on two of those, the side who came second - in this case Germany - triumphed.

2. Germany have never previously won the competition but have - either as East or West - lost in the final four times, including a 1974 defeat to Hungary when it was still an Under-23 competition.

Posted: June 29th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Portugal and Argentina continue to struggle, Peter Crouch maintains his record

Five stats about this week’s internationals

1. Peter Crouch wasn’t too impressive last night but maintained his incredible international goal-to-start record, with 14 goals in his last 14 starts.

2. England’s 21-point haul from their first seven qualifiers is a drastic improvement on 14 from their first seven in the Euro 2008 campaign, although they did have 19 at this stage under Sven-Goran Eriksson in qualification for the last World Cup.

3. Anyone who thought Portugal had turned the corner with their last-gasp 2-1 win over Albania was proved wrong last night when they drew 0-0 away to Estonia in a friendly. That result was particularly worrying as they were actually performing fairly well in friendlies prior to that, winning four of their previous five.

Posted: June 11th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Andorra are 229/1 to beat England tonight, 79/1 to draw

England/Andorra, 8.15pm, ITV1, Free Bets, Best Odds

If there is one criticism of England under Fabio Capello, it’s that they take too long to break down minnows. It took 49 minutes to break down Andorra in Barcelona, 52 to find a way past Kazakhstan at Wembley and then 40 away to them last weekend. Andorra boss David Rodrigo has noticed the trend and plans to frustrate the Three Lions tonight, although Betfair odds of 229/1 show that he’s not expected to have much success. Here are some stats about what surely must be a home banker, even if it’s played in front of no fans:

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» England have won their three previous meetings with Andorra without conceding a goal, scoring ten in the process.

» Andorra coach Rodrigo’s claimed that “England have always had problems when they have played against us and have been made to work hard to get the first goal.” However, they were beaten 5-0 on their last trip to Wembley in 2006 with the opening goal coming in the fifth minute from Peter Crouch.

» The minnows have lost their last 20 competitive games and their overall record in qualifying games is P58 W1 D2 L55. They’ve taken just a point from 29 away qualifiers - a 0-0 draw in FYR Macedonia in February 2005.

Posted: June 10th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Ten statistics about England’s qualifying clash with Ukraine

England/Ukraine, Wednesday 8pm, ITV1, Free Bets, Best Odds

England fans have a reputation for fickleness but the antics of the Wembley crowd must seem refreshing to Fabio Capello when compared to the actions of some supporters in his homeland. Italy fans in Bari are expected to boo Marcello Lippi, the man who won them the World Cup, tonight and cheer his predecessor Giovanni Trapattoni, the man who twice flopped in international tournaments. The reason? Lippi refused to call up their favourite son Antonio Cassano. Capello on the other hand can expect a hearty applause this evening despite trying to pick even Darren Bent ahead of Michael Owen. Here’s ten stats about tonight’s game with Ukraine:

1. Both teams are unbeaten in Group 6, with England winning all four of their games. Ukraine have won two and drawn one of their three.

2. Ukraine are unbeaten in eight games and have won four consecutive away games.

3. However, they have been seen off easily on their two previous trips to England - losing 2-0 in 2000 and 3-0 in 2004.

Posted: April 1st, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment